Dark Waters

Chapter 11

"That's what you gave Ra'loreh," I guessed, "to make him arrest me." He made an affirmative noise in the back of his throat, then placed the bottle back and drew out a stone jar.

"And this one," he said with admiration, "is tulia farendoor. It's a deadly poison." I ducked out from under his arm and backed away cautiously.

Lanntryns laughed again, making my skin crawl. "My dear, there is no dose of this venom waiting if your future! At least not by my hand. No, this will go to a troublesome few... the council members, for example." Crucible in hand, he approached the cell where one old merman was out cold.

"Wait!" I cried, desperate for more time to think. "Why have Ra'loreh arrest me?"

He smiled gently, which for some reason was more repulsive than if he had growled at me. "I wanted you to be safe and out of the way, so you wouldn't get hurt t hurt."

I smiled thinly. "Why do you care about what happens to me, big handsome maniac like yourself?"

I'd hoped to strike a nerve, but still could not ruffle him. He came back over to me and set down his jar of poison.

"I care a great deal about what happens to you, Marin."

I regarded him warily. I had a feeling about where this was going, but I wanted more than anything to be wrong.

"You asked me if I would have a council, and I was truthful when I said no. However, I do not believe that I can rule alone, nor do I have any wish to. That's just another reason why I needed you out of harm's way."

"What are you saying?" I asked cautiously.

"Marin, every king needs a queen. Would you do me the honor of ruling by my side?"

Shit. I was, unfortunately, right again. I kept my face as blank as a refrigerator door while he continued.

"You would have everything you could ever wish for. All would be slaves to your desires, and you would answer to only me. I will spare your brother, and he would be with you constantly, and adore you above all others. I would allow Aelaria to live as well, to serve as your handmaiden. Anything you ask shall be yours."

He grasped my fingers and pulled my body close to his, holding my hand and my waist like we were dancing. He looked into my eyes and made his official offer. "Marin. Will you be my bride, and my queen?"

I conjured the sweetest smile I could muster onto my face, and reached out my palm to touch his cheek. I remained there for a moment, then seized his chin with a tight grip and pulled his eyes level to mine.

"I will never, never do what you want," I declared, my voice deathly quiet. "I will never associate with scum like you again, and I will never allow you to make this place into a kingdom. You don't deserve that. And you cannot and will not have power over me, you slime."

An outraged snarl ripped from his throat, and he locked my wrist in an iron grip, ripping it away from his chin.

"Well," he said, "That's what I get for chasing headstrong girls. But I think we can still find some use for you." His voice was harsh and full of venom, nothing like the smooth timbre it had had just a second ago. "I've already discovered what fish blood does to a mermaid. Lets see what human blood does to them!"

So this is how it ends, I reflected quietly in my head. I took the second I had to accept my own end gratefully, and prepared myself. But there was no way I could prepare myself for what Lanntryns did next. He drew me across the room and stopped in front of Tyler's cell. He reached his hand, clawlike, straight through the bubble that had been like steel just minutes ago. I screamed. "NO!"

Tyler looked in horror at the hand reaching for him and swam away to the other side of the cell, backed into the corner. "No, stop! Stop! I- I'll do it," I screamed, beating Lanntryns' shoulder with my free hand. Immediately his claw retracted from the vessel imprisoning my baby brother. Lanntryns turned his head towards me.

"I'll do it," I repeated, wrenching my hand from his loosening grip. "I'll do anything you want, just... Just leave Tyler out of this."

The gentle, adoring smile returned to his face with startling speed. "Oh, my dear, I knew you'd come around." I returned the smile, pouring all the emotion and new love I had once felt for him into the expression, and dropped my forearms around his shoulders.

He lowered his head and our noses became close. I grasped the back of his neck and drew him in for a long, slow kiss. He pulled back after a moment, and I smiled a sugary smile before locking my hands onto his head and slamming my forehead into his.

It had the desired effect. Immediately his eyes rolled backwards into his skull and he dropped to the floor. I stalwartly ignored the headache that rushed rapidly into my own cranium and drew Aelaria's knife from where it was belted around my waist. Turning to the right, I struck the knife against the bubble that surrounded my brother's cell.

With a deafening noise, every bubble in the room shattered like sheets of ice. I dropped the knife on the floor and cowered as the shrapnel blew everywhere, raising my head when the tinkling noises ended. All the cells were open, nothing more than stone frames now, but few people were conscious. The twins and several others were already flitting around the room, trying to rouse people and looking for injuries.

At that precise moment, I was bowled over by two bodies from behind. Aelaria and Tyler had tackled me in a hug to end all hugs, all three of us crying. Tyler buried his face in the curve of my neck the way he liked to, and Aelaria kissed my cheeks over and over. Ra'loreh came over and rested his hand on my shoulder. His heart was in his eyes.

"I am so deeply sorry for what I have done to you," he whispered.

"Ra'loreh," I said reproachfully, "are you talking about arresting me?" He nodded, looking ashamed. "Why are you apologizing? You didn't do anything to me! What happened was all him." I tipped my head towards the merman on the floor, momentarily out of commision. Ra'loreh's eyes were downcast, and the expression on his face made it clear that he felt unworthy of my forgiveness. Still supporting my brother with my right arm, I used the other to pull Ra'loreh over to me. I kissed his cheek gently.

Aelaria smiled at us, a twinkle in her eyes. Shut up, I mouthed at her, but she only held up her palms in surrender.

"That's all well and good," she said, "but now what are we going to do with Lanntry- uh!"

My friend's sentence was cut short by a grunt of pain. I looked down to see a curved bone point emerging from her torso, a few inches to the left of her navel. Behind her, Lanntryns had regained consciousness, picked up Aelaria's knife from where I had dropped it on the floor, and driven it through her belly. Aelaria had been skewered by her own blade.

Another tortured gasp ripped from her lungs as Lanntryns twisted the knife with malice before dropping his arm, leaving the weapon in place. Aelaria collapsed on the floor.

Screaming like a banshee, I was on Lanntryns before I even knew that I had released Tyler and Ra'loreh or swam over. As he pushed himself off the floor, I clapped my hands around his throat, forming a tight seal around his gills the way Aelaria had taught me so long ago. He shook. I screamed. He gasped. I snarled. An animal took over my body, and I kept my grip until the wicked merman went slack in my hands, his eyes losing focus. I let him crumple to the floor and wheeled over to my friend, lying in a similar position. Her eyes, too, were focusing in and out of reality, sometimes looking at me, sometimes at something beyond.

I grasped her hand in both of mine. "Aelaria," I sobbed. "Aelaria, stay with me, stay here."

"Stay here..."